Hanging out for a mystery

Victoria's most famous Rock continues to inspire and frighten
visitors from near and far, writes Andrew Stephens.

One day, after returning from his usual rounds at Hanging Rock,
the reserve's long-time ranger, Guido Bigolin, collected a large
parcel waiting for him at the post office. When he opened it, there
was a hefty chunk of the Rock inside, returned all the way from
Ireland, together with a mud-map explaining exactly where the
stolen fragment should be returned. The thief didn't want the lump
any more because it had brought only misery.

Pieces of the enormous boulders, pinnacles and slabs that make
up this astonishing volcanic site, so deeply imbued with mystery,
are posted back to Guido from time to time. All come with the same
tales of weird or unfortunate events that seem to have been brought
about by the filched bits of the Rock.

There was even a Tasmanian woman who used to write regularly to
Guido; she had taken photos at the Rock she claimed to contain
ghostly images of Miranda - and everyone knows who Miranda is.

Guido and his wife, Jo, and their three daughters - who've all
been at the Rock since 1982 - are as used to all of this as they
are to the constant questions about what really happened to
Miranda, Marion Quade and Miss Greta McCraw from the Australian
literary and cinema classics Picnic at Hanging Rock.

The answer is that nobody knows, because most scholars and
interested parties seem certain that Joan Lindsay's 1967 novel is
entirely fictional - though it may be based on similar events from
Lindsay's own life.

Or it may just be a wild imagining Lindsay had while looking at
William Ford's 1875 painting in the National Gallery of Victoria,
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Lindsay was once a student at the
gallery's art school and the painting is mentioned in her
novel).

What is a fact is that there is much more history to Hanging
Rock than the famously enigmatic story, which director Peter Weir
transformed into a haunting film in 1975.

Like that other famous rock in Australia - Uluru - Hanging Rock
is a beautiful spectacle to behold, especially on misty late-autumn
mornings or during stunning summer sunsets. The views from the top
of the Rock are panoramic. You can look down on farmland, the
enormous rise of Mount Macedon, north to the Cobaw Ranges and
across to Woodend and Daylesford.

But, unlike its central Australian sister, Hanging Rock's
indigenous history has been largely obscured. What the Rock's name
was for the local Aboriginal tribes seems to have disappeared from
oral or written record, despite various attempts by historians to
find out. Even the precise tribe or clan that inhabited the Rock
area is not certain, with historians mentioning the Woi Wurrung,
Djadja Wurrung and, according to local historian Allan Maxwell, the
Ediboligitoorong as likely candidates.

Maxwell's unpublished study on the Macedon Ranges' Aboriginal
history, used by the shire for tourism purposes, says the Rock was
on the edge of several tribal boundaries and was probably an
important place for inter-tribal meetings, wars and ceremonies.

Maxwell says he once had some Aboriginal visitors from the
Northern Territory who said there was no doubt the Rock was a
sacred place. "They said that it would have been as significant to
Victorian Aboriginals as Uluru, or Ayers Rock, was to them," he
writes. "That is, it was the beginning of many Dreamings, in
particular, Fertility Dreaming, which includes the procreation and
proliferation of all the native species of flora and fauna known to
this area."

For ranger Guido, whose childhood as the son of Italian migrants
in inner-city Carlton seems a long way from this quintessential
bush setting, the Rock has been the mainstay of his life for the
past 25 years. His daughters grew up here (one now runs the cafe)
and have witnessed countless picnics and races, a few floods, the
present drought and, devastatingly, a couple of achingly sad
deaths.

Only four years ago, a young boy on the brink of becoming a
teenager slipped and died on the Rock. Guido and Jo are visibly
affected in retelling this grief-filled story, and later I see the
memorial plaque that Guido arranged with the boy's family to have
placed at the site of his death. "A young boy who loved life,
always remembered. 1989-2002", it reads in part. It cannot be
missed by anyone ascending the stairs under the enormous suspended
slab that gives the place its evocative name, Hanging Rock.

When the boy's family come to visit, Guido takes them up.

On the day I visit, this compassionate, knowledgeable man is
helping a group of disabled children and their carers go up the
Rock and they respond well to his humour and assuring sense of
dependability. He has them looking out for the few koalas, three or
four, that remain in the reserve among the tall manna gums and
heavy-scented cassinia, despite the destructive drought.

Like Guido, there are so many people who know and love the park.
Albert Golden, of nearby Lauriston, is renowned for his knowledge
of the fauna. Barbara Strange, of Macedon, was a long-time member
of the Friends of Hanging Rock and is a fund of historical
information. And the Landcare group, now headed by Penny Roberts,
is also extremely knowledgeable about the flora.

The Rock's history for Europeans began in the early 19th century
when invading squatters started to clear the land for pastoral
purposes, its first name being Dryden's Rock and later Mount
Diogenes. Major Thomas Mitchell was one of the first to lead a
party through the area, just north of Mount Macedon, in 1836, and
he noted smallpox scars on the Aborigines.

The first geological survey was done in 1856 and, by 1859, the
name Hanging Rock was in common usage. The surviving Aborigines -
many had died from smallpox and syphilis, greatly reducing the
birth rate - were rounded up in 1863 and sent to the Coranderk
Aboriginal Reserve in Healesville after "conflict" with the
pastoralists.

Since then, tourism has been on the rise: 1877 saw the first New
Year's Day race meeting and in 1884 the Victorian Government bought
up land that included Hanging Rock.

In 2000, the informative Discovery Centre was built next to the
cafe, which used to include the ranger's residence (the Bigolins
now live nearby on private land).

But the Lindsay novel and Weir film brought the place its great
fame and made it such a cultural magnet, attracting about 90,000
visitors last year and making it the focus for The Age Harvest
Picnic (February 25), the New Year's Day, Australia Day and Labor
Day races, the Valentine's Day open-air screening of the film and
various other events. It is also the home to cricket, tennis and
petanque clubs.

In the two-hour documentary A Dream Within a Dream on
the making of the landmark film, Weir recounts how he asked Lindsay
(against advice) whether her story was based on any truth? She
hedged with him and producer Patricia Lovell, but, in earlier
interviews (1974 and 1975), Lindsay said she "dreamt" and wrote the
book over a four-week period.

She said it came out of her like a film when she woke each
morning, when she "would write like a demon". She said it was
written as a mystery, remains a mystery and that, for her, fact and
fiction were closely aligned.

Certainly, all other research has found no trace of police or
newspaper reports of schoolgirls disappearing at the rock in 1900
or at any other time. Lindsay's day for the event - Valentine's Day
1900 - is a Saturday; in fact, February 14 was a Wednesday. And her
confusing note at the start of the book does not make matters any
clearer: "Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or
fiction, my readers must decide for themselves. As the fateful
picnic took place in the year 1900, and all the characters who
appear in this book are long since dead, it hardly seems
important."

In her book The Murders at Hanging Rock, Yvonne
Rousseau speculates on various theories - parallel universes,
"bush" retribution, murder, UFO abduction - but what is clear is
that everyone loves a mystery. Jo Bigolin says people are always
asking her about the disappearance: "They ask, 'When did it happen,
the story? Were you here?'," she says. "I'm not that old! But you
can't tell them it's not true - how do you say that? They want to
believe it."

The names of various parts of the Rock - the Chapel, Black Hole
of Calcutta, Flying Saucer, Vampire Cliff, Lover's Leap and the
like - help to reinforce its reputation as a spooky place. Many
visitors report feeling unusual there. "A lot of people get bad
vibes," says Jo.

Guido agrees: "We have a lot of different groups that come,
right? Like psychics, crystal people, orange people, Earthlings
..."

Once, an Irish girl got lost and called her father (in Ireland)
on her mobile, who in turn called 000 in Australia. The police
called Guido (on his day off) and he found the girl going round in
circles on the Saddle, scared out of her wits.

But the Bigolins have been a great success of the reserve. When
they arrived, the place was losing money. When they turned that
around, Guido's two-year contract was extended, eventually becoming
a permanent job. The northern gate was removed to stop through
traffic; the south gate became the grander main entrance; the
visitor centre was built; and the cafe now turns out fabulous
meals. Even the entry fee is reasonable, at $8 a car, free for
Macedon Ranges Shire Council ratepayers.

While focus remains on theories around Lindsay's tale, the
site's geological history has few mysteries. Standing 711 metres
above sea level, and 105 metres above the surrounding plains,
Hanging Rock is an extinct volcano of a sort known as a "mamelon"
(the French word for nipple).

Made of a particularly thick lava that, when cooling, produced
vertical fractures and the distinct pinnacles, deep crevices and
massive rocks that constitute it today, the huge, towering site is
believed to be six million years old. The rock is called
solvsbergite, only found in Norway, Sweden - and Hanging Rock.

Fauna expert Albert Golden, who occasionally takes tourists on
night walks at the Rock, says there is an abundance of wildlife,
including greater gliders and sugar gliders, goannas and echidnas,
plus the usual roos, wallabies, koalas and possums. He says there
are about 40 bird species, including powerful owls, plus a couple
of peregrine falcons that nest on the Rock each year.

To protect all of this, Landcare's Penny Roberts is working to
help build wildlife corridors between Mount Macedon, the Rock and
the nearby Cobaw Ranges. "I hope it will look very different in 15
years," she says.

For Guido, Hanging Rock remains a timeless, contemplative place
and he is glad he and his family have made their home there.
"Sometimes you find people just sitting there on the rocks for
hours," he tells me. "Just peaceful, finding themselves."

This year's Australia Day Races will be held at Kyneton due to
dry track conditions at Hanging Rock. For details call 54221866 or
see hangingrock.info

1169095907672-smh.com.auhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/victoria/hanging-out-for-a-mystery/2007/01/18/1169095907672.htmlsmh.com.auThe Sunday Age2007-01-21Hanging out for a mysteryAndrew StephensVictoria's most famous Rock continues to inspire and frighten
visitors from near and far, writes Andrew Stephens.TravelAustraliaADestVictoriahttp://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/01/22/picnic22107_wideweb__430x350,0.jpg